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Friday, July 28, 2017

I still haven't seen a single adult black swallowtail anywhere, all summer long. They have found my dill and parsley, however. Caterpillars have appeared and disappeared several times. A couple of weeks ago, they were all over the dill in various stages of growth. I brought in six, excited about watching the ten (TEN!!) I left outside grow up. When I went outside later that afternoon, all ten were gone from the dill, nowhere to be found. Food chain, I assume. I am glad I saved six.

Of the six, three have successfully chrysalized (is that a word?) and two are close -- still eating, but nearing the full-to-popping size they achieve before they reorganize all their body parts so they can fly. The mystery of the changes from caterpillar to chrysalis to butterfly never gets old.

Caterpillar on dill, top right. Two chrysalises on bottom stick.

Two unrecognizable caterpillars -- top one is greenish, bottom one is brown.

Monday, July 24, 2017

I had a summer filled with learning and thinking. I was lucky to connect with so many people and each time I left to go to a conference, etc. I had great intentions of blogging each event. However, time got away from me and those good intentions never turned into blog posts. But I discovered so many things that I want everyone else to know about that I need to share them. So here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite summer discoveries that I think are worth sharing!

An App

And do you know about Flipgrid. I was lucky enough to hear Sara Kajder speak twice this summer and both times she shared the amazing things students were doing with Flipgrid. Definitely an app I'll be checking out this year!

I discovered The Journey Project (The intersection of research, resources, and outreach to support gender expansive and transgender youth, families, and educator advocates.) recently and think it is a great resource for parents and educators. I needs to spend a bit more time on the site but I am especially interested in The Inclusive Classroom Library Project that is part of this site.

ILA Panel
I attended an amazing panel at ILA in July titled Disrupting a Destructive Cycle: How Literacy Drives Social Change. I was able to hear and learn from Nikole Hannah-Jones (If you don't know her work, you should read as much of it as you can). I learned about Salaam Reads, a new book imprint that we should all know. And Cornelius Minor's opening talk at this panel is one that I keep reflecting on. The live event is archived on ILA's Facebook page so you can watch it there. And then follow all of the panel members on Twitter, etc.

New Blogs to FollowClassroom Communities is a new blog with an amazing list of contributors --one that focuses on classroom community and relationships. Happy to have this blog in the world!

This Teaching and Coaching Life is a new blog by the amazing Stella Villalba, Always something amazing to learn from Stella! So glad to be able to learn from her through this new blog.

I have always been a fan of Jess Keating and her work. This summer she launched a new free magazine called The Curious Creative. Each issue is packed with great stuff so you'll want to subscribe for sure!

And finally, if you have not tried McDonald's ROLO McFlurry, it is a happy treat! Not sure when this was invented because I just discovered it a few weeks ago but well worth it on a day you need a special treat!

I took the title of my poem from today's poem at The Writer's Almanac. Gerald Locklin uses the timing of one event for his poem, but I got to thinking about the range of emotions possible within brief moments. What are some moments you'd like to have stopped or to held onto?

Monday, July 17, 2017

I have heard so much about the new book, Amina's Voice by Hena Khan. I read it this week and am so glad I did. This book is getting lots of buzz and lots of starred reviews and it deserves all of these things. The middle grade book is about Amina, a Pakistani-American Muslim girl who has an amazing voice. But she is not comfortable using it in front of an audience. As she tries to make sense of challenges and changes that come with growing up, her local mosque is vandalized. This book is a must-read/must-have..

Amina's Voice is a Simon and Schuster publication. I just learned of Simon and Schuster's newish imprint--Salaam Reads--one that we should all know:"Founded in 2016, Salaam Reads is an imprint that aims to introduce readers of all faiths and backgrounds to a wide variety of Muslim children and families and offer Muslim kids an opportunity to see themselves reflected positively in published works. The imprint, which takes its name from the Arabic word for “peace,” plans to publish books for young readers of all ages, including picture books, chapter books, middle grade, and young adult."

I didn't realize it until I spent some time on the website, but I just purchased another book from this imprint-- The Gauntlet by Karuna Riazi who was on an author panel at Nerdcamp. This sounds like a great fantasy adventure for middle grade readers and I am anxious to read it as well as some of the other upcoming releases I read about on the Salaam Reads site.

I was lucky to hear Zareen Jaffery on a panel at ILA this week. She was part of a panel called "Disrupting a Destructive Cycle: How Literacy Drives Social Change". Her words were powerful and I would highly suggest following her (@ZareenJaffery) and her work.

If you have read Amina's Voice, The Educator Collaborative (@TheEdCollab) is hosting a Summer Book Club on Tuesday, July 18 from 8:00-9:00 p.m. about the book. The author, Hena Khan will be joining the chat so it is sure to be a worthwhile hour with great conversation and learning.

Friday, July 14, 2017

Dear Mac and Cheese,
I’ve got to hand it to you,
you perfected the whole dissemblance thing.
I mean, it was flat-out brilliant
disguising yourself in that box for all these years,
allowing generations of beginning (or lazy) cooks
to transform dust and rocks
into a creamy bowl of comfort.
Box-made, your color is, though, disturbingly unnatural.
Not quite the orange of the namesake fruit
nor of a winter sky at sunset.
Neither oriole nor monarch.
Not autumn or amber.
Perhaps closest to road gang prison uniform,
a subtle hint to alert the most observant cooks that
the box is actually a trap.
Half a lifetime of cooking wasted, spent colorblind and imprisoned,
I’m free now, and so are you.
I’ve grated a big mound of cheddar and American,
mixed in noodles, poured on cream, baked until crunchy on top.
We’ve escaped, and nothing can stop us from moving on
to smoked gouda, bacon, fresh peas, and a crisp panko topping.
Your palette is now my palate.

My mentor text for these two poems was David Hernandez's book, Dear, Sincerely. His poem, "Sincerely, the Sky" was featured recently on The Writer's Almanac. I loved it so much that in a rare move, I clicked through to his book on Amazon. After a peek inside the book, I knew I wanted to own it.

There are 10 Dear or Sincerely poems in the book. I took the conversational tone of my first poem from Hernandez's "Dear Death." My sincerely poem is most like his "Sincerely, Paper Gown."

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Stenhouse kicked of their annual Blogstitute today! We (Franki and co-author of Still Learning to Read, Karen Szymusiak) wrote the first post, "Sticky Note Strategies for Transitional Readers". You can find the post here and then follow the Blogstitute for more great posts by Stenhouse authors!

For next week's Poetry Friday Roundup, Tabatha has invited us to write/share poems in honor of National Mac and Cheese Day, which falls on Friday, July 14 this year. Start cooking up an oozy, gooey Poetry Friday post!! (It's optional, but it was so much fun when we celebrated Billy Collins at the beginning of his birth month back in March.)

We Are ALSO Proud Members of the Nerdy Book Club

Celebrate!

About Us

Franki and Mary Lee are both teachers, and have been for more than 20 years.

Franki is a fifth grade teacher. She is the author of Beyond Leveled Books (Stenhouse), Still Learning to Read (Stenhouse), Day-to-Day Assessment in the Reading Workshop (Scholastic) and The Joy of Planning (Choice Literacy). She is also a regular contributor to Choice Literacy.

Mary Lee is a fifth grade teacher. She is the author of Reconsidering Read-Aloud (Stenhouse) and has poems in the Poetry Friday Anthology, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Science, the Poetry Friday Anthology for Celebrations (Pomelo Books), Dear Tomato: An International Crop of Food and Agriculture Poems, National Geographic Books of Nature Poems, and The Best of Today's Little Ditty (2014-15 and 2016).